GTA V blogpost
Grand Theft Auto V or GTA 5 is a well-known video game made by Rockstar North Company back in 2013. It is an action adventure game that follows three criminals and their ways of committing crimes such as Heists and robbing banks while being oppressed by the government. It is an open world game where players can roam around in the city and do whatever they are pleased like picking up prostitutes and killing them if they wanted to, or rob places or whatever comes in mind. Players can control the three main characters who each has a criminal record and does harmful things. In this game, players are free to carry any weapon and to kill anyone they want but however; cops will be on their tale to catch them or to kill them. Players can also drive vehicles and run people over if they wished to do so. This game is a series that has been going on since 1997 and many people are familiar and love this game because it is an open world game that let you explore everything and anything you want. However, some think that it is a game that contain violence, a lot of killing and criminal acts. This game raised a lot of key ethical challenges like killing random people, robbing places and especially killing prostitutes after finishing with her and taking a selfie with the dead body. It also includes hate speech and insults from the main characters. Not to forget about a mission that requires players to use torture equipment in a hostage interrogation to get the information needed. Nevertheless, this game gives a freedom that no other games give when it comes to open world games and free roam. People will chose either to follow the rules or not to after finishing the main missions.
According to Dean Takahashi (2004), Game designers face the same moral issues that artists in other communication places face when it comes to ethical choices. They must take into consideration both the taste of the players and their audience and their right to free expression. Video games are considered as form of media and expression and can influence people and players through the story of the game and the way the people play the game. Because video games are now they new medium, game designer are battling with what ethical codes they should apply on their creations. Games are a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. Games should be sold to players depending on their age rating, and recently all games that has violence in them should be sold to people above 18. Dean also added that people who are playing the game would judge either the games they are playing are unethical or not. Moreover, this depends on the game. If they are just a form of entertainment, then there’s no need to pay a lot of attention on the ethical parts. In other words, it is the design goals themselves that put ethical limits on game designers. “Discussing ethics and morals is a tricky subject, as the terms are very vague and slippery,” says Jason Della Rocca, program director of the International Game Developers Association. “Each person’s definition of what is ethical changes.”
In many games, people have the choice to do what is right or what is wrong just like in Infamous Second Son, Red Dead Redemption 2 and others where you can chose if you want to save people or kill them.
Packard, Ashley (2013) claim, “Games communicate ideas — and even social messages — through familiar literary devices (character, plot, dialogue, music) and through features distinctive to the medium (player interaction with a virtual world).” “Government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content.” Video games just like any other movie or TV show or press, has messages they want to deliver to people, the government cannot restrict the freedom of expression because of the messages they are delivering or the content of the game. She also added that nearly all research on the effect of media violence on children shows a correlation between violent depictions and aggressive behavior. But it does not show a direct causal relationship. Interactivity is not exclusive to games but applies to all forms of literature. However, the Supreme Court did accept restrictions for the sale of “obscene” material (i.e. pornography). Because obscenity, the court argued, is not protected by Free Speech Rights.
In a nutshell, censoring or banning a game is not the most effective answer to potential harms. Since video games has an age rating, which means parents should also know what their kids are getting. If a game is rated 18+ then they shouldn’t be getting it to kids younger than 18 and if 18+ people are being very affect by the games and the violence then I think it has become a mental issue.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_V
Dean Takahashi, (2004), Ethics of Game Design, https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130594/ethics_of_game_design.php
Packard, Ashley (2013) ‘Sex and Violence’ in Digital Media Law, Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ, pp. 316–317
